Animal House

Newsday writers nab top honors

Bill Mason

September 29, 2006

Newsday's Denise Flaim is a winner of the 68th annual Front Page Awards sponsored by the Newswomen's Club of New York for her "Animal House" blog, which appears on newsday.com/animalhouse.

Flaim, Newsday's pet columnist, is one of more than 39 award winners announced this week. Other winners in newspaper categories included Newsday writers Melanie Lefkowitz and Ridgely Ochs, and former Newsday writer Tina Susman.

Judges from media and university journalism centers choose outstanding women journalists each year in print, broadcast, and online media categories.

Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.

Three posts in one day! Pick a thread, any thread.

Search coordinator Bonnie Folz sends this update:

<<Vivi Update 9/28/06

We are now into our 33^rd week of the search for Vivi. Though it may not seem too much is happening, there’s lots taking place behind the scenes.

There’s a great group of out-of-town volunteers that continue to fax, email and snail mail businesses throughout Queens and Brooklyn, keeping the neighborhoods aware that Vivi is still missing. We are also looking into newspaper ads.

Another tracker, Harry Oakes, paid a visit to New York with his search-and-rescue dog; however, there was still no sign of the elusive whippet.

We received a call on Friday from a man claiming to have seen Vivi in the neighborhood of Rego Park, an area of Queens not far from Forest and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Rosa was unable to get the information we’d like to have confirming this sighting, as she couldn’t get a word in edgewise and the man hung up too soon. He called from a pay phone and asked that any reward be donated to St. Jude’s. We cannot for sure say it was Vivi this man saw. In any case, the foot soldier volunteers did canvas the area and new signs and posters have been put up around that area just in case.

As soon as the call came in we contacted Laura Totis and Sam Connelly of Maryland to see if either were available to at least confirm whether or not it was Vivi this man saw. Neither tracking teams were immediately available to make the trip.

A second call came in today from a woman in Rego Park who noticed one of the new posters up. She asked another lady who was passing by if she ever saw this dog, and the lady said that someone told her they did. Unfortunately, again, there’s no way to confirm this as she heard it from someone who heard it from someone else, and we have no idea when the dog was seen.

In any case, we immediately called Sam Connelly to see if she could come in and though she was planning on doing so this weekend, she’s come down with a bad cold and cannot make the trip. We are awaiting a call back from Laura Totis to see if she is available to come in as soon as possible. I also made a call to Debra Adler from New Jersey, but was unable to contact her.

We are working on having a tracking team come in, check the Rego Park area first and then check those other areas the volunteers here feel Vivi may be. This would pretty much leave no stone unturned, so to speak.

Unfortunately, the DNA results from the stool taken from Forest Park near where tracking team Laura Totis’ dog picked up Vivi scent turned out not to belong to Vivi. Thanks to the American Kennel Club and the folks at their DNA lab for helping us out.

Two more night-vision goggles and two more bionic ears are being purchased for those volunteers on the ground, that are able to go out at night searching.

We are following up on a few phone calls that came in as well, but for various reasons, I cannot elaborate about them here.

With dog shows coming to Queens at the end of the month, we’ve contracted Sign-A-Rama of Middle Village, who made up the magnetic Vivi signs, to make up corrugated signs, double sided, to stake into the ground and the kennel club has been kind enough to allow us to set up a table at the show with information about Vivi still being missing.

There are also dogs shows this weekend in Long Island, where my club, the Big Apple Sighthound Association, is having a lure-coursing demonstration. I’ll make sure to have info on hand there as well.

Wouldn’t it be great to see Vivi run onto the field to "catch the bunny"!

Once again, thanks to everyone for their help, kind words and support.

Still keeping the faith,

Bonnie>>

Rosa Chile was at the bus depot where her roommate and fellow Vivi searcher Tina Potter works today when a Sam, a fellow bus driver, approached them.

Though he sees Tina every day, Sam didn't know how involved she was in the search for the famous whippet who escaped from the nearby airport this winter.

But when he noticed the metallic "Lost Dog" sign on Rosa's car, he relayed this story:

In mid-March, Sam was driving his bus on Rockaway Boulevard near 147th Street when he noticed a homeless man who frequents the neighborhood. Sam knew the indigent man had a knack with animals -- locals in this corner of Jamaica sometimes ask him to help coax their hesitant dogs home -- and Sam was accustomed to seeing him walking dogs of various breeds, from Rottweilers to even a poodle.

But on this day, Sam took particular note of the dog the homeless man was walking on a piece of rope, because she seemed too "classy" for the company she was keeping: a knee-high white dog who looked for all the world like a miniature greyhound.

According to Rosa, Sam said he called the Port Authority about the sighting.

Was this Vivi? If so, it explains the mysterious piece of rope that was seen around her neck by a man who fed her bread through the fence at Flushing Cemetery later that month.

But it doesn't explain what one homeless guy in Jamaica did to corral the  little slip of a dog that has otherwise eluded dozens of searchers and a smattering of professional pet detectives.

Perhaps his unobtrusiveness, his stillness, his quiet energy, is what attracted her. Those qualities probably also drew her to the handful of young children she is believed to have approached during her otherwise people-skirting travels.

It is a lesson Vivi lovers might take to heart as they try to channel their energy positively and calmly in an effort to spark more sightings and bring her that much closer to home.

Team Vivi is cautiously optimistic about a sighting that came in today.

Diehard searcher Rosa Chile received a call today from a woman who said she heard thirdhand that Vivi was running on 99th Street between 64th and 65th avenues in Rego Park.

The woman said she has been on the lookout for Vivi since she was lost more than seven months ago. She said a passerby told her that someone else told her that she had seen a dog matching Vivi's description, and that it appeared frightened, but was unclear on the time frame, though it was recent.

This area is several blocks east of where a tenuous Vivi sighting was called in last week by a man who could not give any additional identifying information on the dog. It is north of Forest Park, where Vivi was last seen by multiple park visitors in early August. It is also southwest of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, where Vivi was sighted in late March.

Search coordinator Bonnie Folz confirms that she is working on bringing in a tracker -- likely either Laura Totis or Sam Connelly, both of whom have tracked Vivi before.  In addition to checking Rego Park, the tracker will search other areas that New York-based searchers think are potential places for Vivi to hide.

I have editors yelling at me that this blog is now resembling a fifth-grade schoolyard brawl. There's not much I can say to refute that.

Now is the time to develop some self-control and think before you type.

This blog, like any community, is a place where people are expected to treat each other with respect. Name calling, accusations and thinly veiled profanity have no place here.  We recognize the importance of the free exchange of ideas, but not at the price of basic decorum and respect.

Individuals who from this point on continue to make inflammatory posts will have their posting privileges suspended. Alternately, the entire "comments" function of the blog can be disabled.

The only four-letter word I want to see on this blog is:

Vivi.

The contents of this post have been removed.

Diehard Vivi searcher Rosa Chile confirms that a caller reached her last night around 6 p.m. claiming to see Vivi in the vicinity of Queens Center Mall.

Rosa says the caller sounded like an older man with a heavy Russian or Eastern European accent. He was likely calling from a pay phone, and Rosa was not able to call him back and establish more details.

Rego Park (short for "Real Good Construction Company," which developed the area in the 1920s ) is a very densely populated area, with active subway stops, major shopping areas and very little open green space. 

Vivi volunteer Diane Tamm sends on these PDFs of the most recent flier for the world's most famous missing whippet.

Click Download ViviBWFlyer092006.pdf  for the B&W flier.

Click Download ViviColorFlyer092006.pdf  for the color flier.

Earlier this month, dog droppings were collected in an area in Glendale, Queens, where Vivi's scent, however faint, was detected by scent dogs. A sample was mailed to the American Kennel Club's DNA lab, which has DNA from Vivi's dam and sire on file.

Rick Patterson, fiance of Vivi's co-owner Jil Walton, says that the lab's preliminary findings suggest that the droppings are not Vivi's. Follow-up tests are being performed to definitively confirm that assessment.

Vivi has not been sighted since August 7, in the vicinity of Forest Park in Glendale.

Search-and-rescue dog handler Harry Oakes  left New York this afternoon to return home to Washington State.

Oakes did not find any fresh scent from the whippet during his searches. Likewise, he says, his search dog Valorie did not alert on any "death scent" on Vivi.

In a report prepared for Terri Corrigan of Arizona, who hired him, as well as Vivi's owners Jil Walton and Rick Patterson, he concluded:

"There is a 95% probability that Vivi has been stolen (persons picked her up, kept her without reporting finding her to the authorities).

"There's a 4% probability that Vivi is deceased and we haven't located the area where she's died at. [sic]

"There's less than a 1% chance of probability that we're wrong."

The report did not contain an explanation of how Oakes arrived at these probability percentages.

Some longtime Vivi searches have expressed dismay that only a small group of individuals were involved in Oakes' search, which was funded by private donations and orchestrated by out-of-stater Terri Corrigan. This is not the first time that a pet detective has requested that only a handful of individuals be informed and on-site when active searching was underway.

Pet-related search and rescue is still an ill-defined area with no clear standards of practice. Indeed, pet detectives differ widely among themselves over methodologies, and even the suitability of certain scent dogs. Oakes, for example, believes that dogs trained for human search and rescue can be used for missing animals as well; Karin Goin of Oklahoma, who came to New York to search for Vivi when she was first lost, disagrees, saying search-and-rescue dogs cannot be used because their training discourages "crittering," or following animal scents.

What all pet detectives seem to share is an unshakeable conviction in the superiority of their particular dogs and search methods.

Rick Patterson says that though Vivi searchers near and far have often squabbled over the best way to search for the missing whippet, there is at the heart of the matter some very common ground.

"One thing we've said from the start is that everybody's heart is in the right place -- everyone wants Vivi to be found and returned to us,"  says Rick, who is also busy readying for his November nuptials to Jil. "We keep trying to come up with different things, and we will continue to try to find her."

Vivi volunteer Terri Corrigan called today from Arizona with an update on search-and-rescuer Harry Oakes.

Terri reports that Harry arrived in New York over the weekend and has been canvassing the locations of Vivi sightings with his 12 1/2-year-old Valorie, who is a border collie/Schipperke/heeler mix.

Harry and Valorie did not find any fresh scent, though they continue to follow up on sightings, some of which turned up old scents. So far Valorie has not alerted on any "death scents," and based on the evidence so far Harry has tenatatively concluded that the missing whippet is likely not dead, despite the fact that she has not been sighted in  more than a month.

Harry will be providing a full report of his findings and conclusions to Vivi's owners, Jil Walton and her fiancee Rick Patterson.

Terri stresses that his visit could not have been possible without the help of many private benefactors, all of whom she thanks from the bottom of her heart.

Today's hot email has to be this story about Dogs Deserve Better activist Tammy Grimes, who was arrested earlier this week for removing a chained dog she nicknamed Doogie from his East Freedom, Pa., yard and taking him for medical treatment.

www.dogsdeservebetter.org/doogie.html

Be forewarned: The video is difficult to watch.

Photo courtesy of Tammy Grimes

Bo Bengtson, Vivi's breeder, writes:

<<Vivi Update - September 12, 2006

There is much happening right now so I’m glad Bonnie sent an update [see previous blog entry].

... Jil and Rick are Vivi’s primary owners and they have OKed [Harry Oakes'] involvement, the rest of us of course want to go along with that. Rick has assured me that Mr. Oakes will stay in touch with the regular group of volunteers. As both he and Bonnie say, we have nothing to lose at this point.

Rick says: “Mr. Oakes’ assistance in the search for Vivi in Queens is made possible through the generous donations of many animal lovers around the country. The owners and volunteers on the ground in Queens are working with Harry Oakes to assist him in his search. We certainly hope that a new dog nose can add value to our continued search. I am in dialogue with Terri Conley and Harry Oakes on a daily basis. I have talked to Rosa and Tina about their availability to help Harry on the ground in Queens. They have told me that one of them will stay with him on the search.”

As mentioned earlier, a stool sample that Rick collected during his searches is being analyzed at a lab, courtesy of the AKC; with the help of DNA from Vivi’s sire it will be possible to tell with about 99 percent certainty if the sample is from Vivi. The result should be available next week. It would be the first conclusive evidence that Vivi is still around in a long time.

It is nearly seven months since Vivi was lost. Cindy Scott sent me a very interesting and encouraging story about a Whippet that was gone for eight months, through a Midwestern winter, and returned safely; with permission I will post this story separately later.

Thanks for all your kind thoughts!

Bo Bengtson>>

Search coordinator Bonnie Folz sends this update in the wake of news that yet-another pet detective, Harry Oakes, is alighting on the Vivi case:

<< Vivi Update - September 12, 2006

The third in an occasional series that introduces Vivi searchers near and far.

Name: Bonnie Folz
Location: Howard Beach, N.Y., USA.
Age: 41 — “I’m told it’s the new 21.”
  Occupation: Sales coordinator by day, dog trainer by night, Vivi search coordinator/volunteer in between.
Family: Happily married to Billy, “the best man.” Owned by two Pharoah hounds — 10-year-old “Peanut” (MBIF DC Kamlyn's Ka Phoenix, MC, CD, RN, CGC, TDI) and 4 year-old “Glory” (Ch. TiaRa's Red, White & Ablu, CGC) — as well as a 2-year-old smooth-collie rescue “Skipper” (Th'Reasn Skipper Doo CGC). “And waiting for me at the Rainbow Bridge, my sweet boy, all-American mix rescue ‘Buster,’ CGC.”
What the unitiated think of her Pharaohs: “They’ll ask, ‘What is that, a red Doberman?’ Some people think they’re overgrown Chihuahuas — or kangaroos.”
Hobbies: “Proudly owner-handling my dogs in conformation and obedience, attending dog shows, lure-coursing, straight-racing, going to and participating in car shows (we have a 1970 Plymouth Barracuda) and gardening.”
Comfort food: Baskin & Robbins Mint Chocolate Chip Shake.
How long she thought the search would take when she first volunteered: A day or so.
Hardest thing about coordinating the Vivi search: “Working with so many good people with varying opinions and not being able to please them all.”
Weirdest prediction a psychic has made: That Vivi was on a boat with a bunch of sailors heading to France. Oh, yes, and she was wearing a little hat.
Number of hours a day she spends on Vivi-related stuff: Between phone calls, emails, feeding stations and fliers, two to four hours.
Most common questions asked about Vivi: “Do you really think it's her?” and “How has she survived?”
Thing she wishes people would understand about the search: “Have patience. That will eventually bring Vivi back.”
Most embarrassing thing her dog’s ever done: Taste-testing some of Billy’s party food — then clearing the room with her nuclear gas. All night long.
Her most vivid Vivi dream: “I’m standing in the middle of a street with [diehard searcher] Rosa, talking to a resident about Vivi being sighted in the area. Vivi turned the corner and started to walk toward us. I screamed for Rosa to turn around, which startled Vivi, and she ran off without Rosa seeing her.”
Most touching moment of the search: She can’t decide. Was it watching Vivi’s breeder Bo Bengtson frantically searching through Flushing Cemetery in the damp cold after receiving a call five minutes earlier that she was being fed bread through the fence? Was it responding to a call that Vivi was dead on the Belt Parkway, then finding the white, black and brown carcass that was someone’s pet beagle? Or was it holding those puppies from Montefiore Cemetery, “knowing that because of Vivi being lost, they were found”?
Most annoying thing about the media (except Denise, of course): “Media, annoying? I think the media is great! They've helped keep the story that Vivi is still missing out there. It doesn’t matter that they waste hours of the volunteers’ time on photos (pose this way, look that way), stupid questions and phone calls throughout the day and night, only to pick apart the answers that you give them, misquote you, omit important info you want to be in the story, and sometimes make you look foolish. Nah, I don't think the media is annoying at all.”
Favorite Queens landmark: Shea Stadium. “LET'S GO METS!”
If Vivi were a celebrity, who would she be? Elvis, natch.
Biggest hit at her annual luau last month: As always, the Jell-O shots, though the rattlesnake pasta (it's got bite!) was up there, too.
Telltale sign that she’s an optimist: “I'm still searching and keeping the faith!”

Search coordinator Bonnie Folz sends this report:

<<Vivi update 9/5/06

It's been almost one month now that there have been no sightings of Vivi. Don't know what to make of this, but the possibilities are endless.

Rick Patterson made another trip to New York, took a red-eye in on August 22, picked up a rental car and went straight out to Forest Park to start laying down his scent, re-establish some contacts and scope out areas of interest Vivi may be drawn to.

We were fortunate to have Laura Totis stop by with her tracking dogs on August 25 after she finished working another case upstate New York.  Though her dogs didn't pick up any scent around the pond area, they did show some interest in another part of the park.  It is in this area that Rick found stool similar to that of Vivi's and took it as a sample. Not sure what he was going to do with this, and unsure if any info could be made with the sample, he asked my veterinarian, Dr Theresa Paoloni of Vet Care Unlimited, to see if there was a possibility of finding out what had been eaten as there was some sort of fur mixed in.

Vivi volunteer and Flyer Queen, Diane Tamm and some out of state volunteers, took further steps to find out if there was any way we could have the poop DNAed. After numerous phone calls, the AKC was contacted and agreed to test the stool to see if in fact it does belong to Vivi. The AKC's lab has been shipped the sample and we are awaiting the results. If this comes back as a positive for Vivi, this would be better than any sighting we've had to date. Amazing what can be done with DNA these days. 

Thanks again to Michael McCann, who also made a trip down to NYC to help with the search efforts and again assured us that we are doing everything, and then some, to find Vivi.

Karin Goin was scheduled to come in on August 29 with a few tracking teams but had to cancel at the last minute due to her dogs becoming ill.  I hope they have since recovered and are all okay.

I've been told another tracking team, Harry Oakes, may be coming in to help find Vivi, I don't have many particulars at this time and will forward them along as I can.

I continue to monitor two feeding stations, and Vivi team members continue to check various areas and keep the flyers posted. Rick did get what he originally thought was a white dog feeding at one of the stations, and the possibility came up that the sightings of August 7 could have been of that dog.  As the next few days followed, it became clear that this dog, a boxer mix, was not white, but tan in color with no other markings. The camera or card reader had originally washed out the dog's color.

We had a group of nine Vivi volunteers gather last week at the bridle path on the east side of Forest Park to check the trails. There are just too many to check, as the marked trails have numerous side trails leading off of them. All trails are through heavily wooded areas, and we did find quite a few spots Vivi could use as dens.

After purchasing a Bionic Ear, Rick continued to wander the park and cemeteries trying to tune out the crickets and listen for the possibility of puppies. He returned home on Friday.

Rosa and Tina have returned from their vacation, and I'm sure will be back in action immediately.  They never really took a vacation from searching for Vivi, as they continued to monitor the 800 number, receive updates and make phone calls.

Though I've not been able to send weekly updates, please know that the search effort continues. Not much to report, as everything has been pretty much status quo with no sightings. We are all doing what we can, and we continue to keep the faith.

Regards,

Bonnie>>

File under "You can't make this stuff up."

Rick Patterson, the fiance of Vivi's co-owner Jil Walton, has been in town for the last week canvassing the Glendale area where Vivi was last sighted lo so many weeks ago.

In an area where scent dogs recently indicated a mild interest in Vivi's scent, he found some whippet-sized droppings.

Could they be identified as Vivi's, he wondered, using state-of-the-art DNA identification?

The American Kennel Club has now said it will try to find out.

Under the AKC's DNA Certification Program, cheek swabs from registered dogs are genotyoed and entered into a database. These DNA "fingerprints" may then be used to determine -- or disprove -- parentage. (With some dogs, such as frequently used sires, DNA registration is mandatory.) Both Vivi's sire and dam have submitted DNA to the program.

The AKC will analyze the droppings found in Glendale to see if the dog that produced them could be the offspring of Vivi's parents.

The proof, it seems, is in the poop.